Stories of others' Avidae

Dea looked from side to side, stretching out her wings. She had to be ready for when someone or something tried to snatch the animals around. Sure, many of the animals told her she was doing a fool’s work, but she will not let that deter her! As much as the animals think they can take care of themselves, what if they were attacked and couldn’t save themselves? Was she supposed to just let them die? Nu-uh, no way was she going to let that happen! If that happens, Dea is going to get in there and she’s going to save the day! 

Just as Dea was moving on to stretching her leg muscles-she had to make sure she was physically fit in all parts of her body and not just her wings, since fighting would test her ability to use all of them-the scent of some sort of animal approached. The Avidae tensed up immediately, her fur fluffing out, pulling her wings and legs back in to pin them up against her body. 

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Dea called out, her grassy, emerald green eyes narrowing to a slit as she focused. Her nose and ears twitched, searching for the source of the scent. If she wasn’t wrong, it was another Avidae. 

There was no response. Instead, Dea heard a faint crunch, like the sound of something-or someone-stepping on a twig. Her head snapped up in that direction, and all of a sudden Dea could see the faint outline of a short-furred cat with wings sprinting by. They had the vague outline of tabby stripes on them, and feathered wings. They blended in almost perfectly with the surroundings behind them. It was easy for Dea to see that this Avidae was rushing towards the pen where the chickens lived. Oh no, they were going to steal the chickens! She had to stop them! 

“STOP!” Dea yelled, launching herself towards the camouflaged Avidae. She spread her wings wide, claws extended, teeth bared in a hiss as she leapt. Her wings flapped a single time, propelling her forward and towards where the cat should be. 

Instead, Dea’s claws contacted nothing but air, and she found herself landing without contact with her opponent. She tucked her wings in as she looked around for her enemy. 

BAM! Dea suddenly found her small body slammed into the ground from her left. A weight weighed down on her wing, preventing her from using it. As she looked up, Dea saw the face of a fierce cream tabby cat glaring down at her, green eyes burning. 

Instinctively, Dea hissed right back at her opponent. They were larger, but she wouldn’t be taken down that easily! She will defeat this opponent of hers, she will defend the chickens, and that’s a promise! This tabby Avidae isn’t getting away with any of the animals from around here! 

With her still extended claws, Dea slashed upwards, flipping her body around so her belly faced the sky at the same time. The other Avidae was caught off guard and stumbled, before yowling as Dea’s claws gave them a fierce slash across their muzzle. Red dripped from their face as they backed off, allowing Dea to leap to her paws. 

With a glance behind Dea, the opponent suddenly camouflaged into the surroundings again. Dea pounced on where they once were, only to find that they had already disappeared. The beating of wings could be heard, and Dea silently groaned as she took flight as well. Her opponent had taken to the skies, which would make tracking them down insanely hard. Instead of the original flat plane she had to find her enemy on, she now had to scout for them in a three-dimensional space. And what was worse was that she had no idea how to find this opponent of hers! They were practically invisible to her! 

Suddenly, something rammed into Dea with the force of a truck. Well, not literally, but you get the idea. Dea yowled out loud as the two of them fell, her wings beating at top speed as she tried to find her balance again. Before they reached the ground, her opponent flew off-perhaps not looking forward to slamming into the ground themselves-which, thankfully, gave Dea the chance to flap her wings like a frantic falling bird and bring herself back into the sky, with no more than a few fallen cream-coloured feathers. 

She needed a better way to track down her opponent than by sight, Dea realised. And then the next moment, she realised that her opponent still had a bleeding muzzle from earlier. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She could track them down with that! And even if that fails, her opponent had proven earlier that they fly in a very noisy manner, so she could also take advantage of that. 

With renewed energy, Dea soared into the sky again, beating her own wings as quietly as possible. Her nose and ears twitched towards every sound and sign of movement, every whiff of blood. 

And suddenly, the beating of wings was beind her. 

Dea spun around, slashing out with her front left paw, then her front right paw. Her opponent clearly did not expect that, as they let out a cry and swerved away. However, the new scars made them painfully visible, as they appeared to be incapable of camouflaging scars. Dea chased the lines of red in the sky, swooping down from above and latching on to her enemy with all her strength. 

The enemy got a taste of their own medicine as Dea drove them both towards the ground. The only difference was that instead of letting go, Dea dug both claws into where she estimated the enemy’s wings to be, the location being proven correct as Dea felt feathers below her paws. As they crashed, her enemy acted as a shield for Dea. 

Quickly, the enemy Avidae crawled out from below Dea, now fully visible. It must have been very taxing on them to fight Dea for so long, with constant blood loss no less. They limped away at top speed, leaving Dea to stand behind them triumphantly.